Florence City Council to revisit medical marijuana moratorium

Florence -- With the passage of Amendment 64 and the moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries in Florence about to expire, the Florence City Council revisited the issue during Monday's meeting.

During the visitors section of the council meeting, Manfred Bereuter talked about the economic opportunities with the second part of Amendment 64, regarding the support of industrial hemp.

"There's a great difference between the two," he said. "Industrial hemp is not a substance (that produces a high) in any way, shape or form. As a matter of fact, it was the fabric of our ancestors."

Hemp was used for copies of the Declaration of Independence and in most clothing before 1900, Bereuter said. Even through World War II, hemp made an important impact in the industry, especially in Colorado.

"Hemp is worth $900 per acre, which is more than double in corn to what the farm brings," Bereuter said. "We import hemp from the rest of the world. The current import value, that's a $2 billion prop. There's a significant share of that Colorado could embrace. There will be communities that will step forward, and they'll provide a friendly environment for growth of industrial hemp to come in. The Arkansas Valley and Florence have a long history of a agricultural background.

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I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to recapture some of its revenue."

City Manager Mike Patterson requested City Attorney Bryan Fredrickson provide views on what the city should be doing, what his recommendations and options are for council. The three issues are medical marijuana moratorium, which is coming up to renew or to dispose. The second matter is the current marijuana issue in terms of Amendment 64 and the third is how to handle it in regards to the federal government.

After Fredrickson reviews the issues, he will make his recommendations for the council members to make their decisions.

In an unrelated matter, consultant Dan Cuff spoke on the 5,100 undeveloped lots in High Meadows Subdivision.

"We're in here tonight to ask you to allow us to do that last piece of subdivision in four phrases to get it going," he said.

Councilwoman Nichole Prickett asked him if he had any plans to improve the roads in the subdivision.

"No we don't," Cuff said. "I am quite familiar with it. I helped start those plans in 1994 with John Medora. We sent through several different developers. To my understanding, those roads were developed to city standards. I'm not sure what happened. I'm not sure why they were accepted by the city."

However, the current developer came in after the original agreement so he won't be held accountable for the current roads, said City Planner Don Moore.

"He owns Phase 4, Filing 4. Filing 4 is High Meadows Way and High Meadows Drive. The rest of High Meadows Drive is already built. What he is talking about for this agreement change ... has already been approved as a subdivision. There's no subdivision exercises to go through except adjusting the phase map. What he wants to do is break it into four pieces so he produced a draft agreement to change the phasing from phase 4 to four phases."

Prickett said her concern is having a lot more traffic on roads that are not in great shape now.

To go along with that, Patterson said when he lived in other places, the Homeowners Association have taken it on themselves to raise the funds to fix the roads in their neighborhoods. This may be the time for homeowners to consider doing in their neighborhoods.

When asked about the plan to build the homes, Cuff said he anticipated building between four and five homes a year.

The main thing is, Moore said, is the developer just wants to split it into phases.

"The issues we should have with this is our length of waterline, not previous developments," he said. "In order for him to start the water and sewer, he has to notify the city of commencement date, and he has 18 months after that to finish that work so we're expecting him to come before you with a subdivision improvement agreement to approve along with a written request to commence construction of water and sewer."

The next city council meeting will be at 7 p.m. May 20 in Council Chambers at 600 W. Third St. in Florence.

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